Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

It's April 2011, and I just realized that what it means is that I have been blogging for two years already. I was actually reminded of it by SternGrad's post, since she's also celebrating her blogoversary. It's been a great two years, and I am glad that I decided to start a blog back then. Big thank you to my readers for making it worth it and for giving me a reason to blog.

Hello fellow bloggers,

I began this blog on April 1st, 2009. I had spent a couple of weeks before that wondering if it was worth it or not, if I should or I should not. But I started. I had no idea who would be reading my blog or in which direction it would go, but I plunged into it and began posting. At first, I had a lot to say and would write, on average, 15 posts a month. That number reached its peak at 19 in August 2009, when I was in Israel and had so much to say and to share, but dwindled to single-digit numbers once the school year started.

I am still here, still writing, still thinking, and you will have to believe me when I say that I have not abandoned my blog (although it sometimes seems like it when I do not post for long stretches of time).

Anyway, I just want to thank my readers (and especially those who comment, since feedback is always appreciated), and here's to another year of blogging. :]

So, Pesach 2010. I really don't have much to say about it. No words of wisdom or inspiration, nothing about how I feel about the holiday, and -- quite honestly -- nothing of much significance at all.

I actually started this blog right before Pesach 2009, so I suppose that it has been one Hebrew year. (Yay!)

I'm hoping to do a lot of reading (and maybe some living) over the holiday, so hopefully by the end of it I will have something of interest to write about.

For now, I just want to wish all my readers a chag kosher v'sameach. :] May this Pesach be a meaningful one for you.

When I began this blog in April of 2009, I was not sure how far it would go. But now, after less than a year, here I am with my 100th post!

A huge thank you to my readers and to those who comment. Feedback is always appreciated, and I love when my posts provoke a discussion. I have no problem just writing everything with pen and paper, but when I know that I have an audience here, it encourages me to share more of my thoughts and ideas in hopes that it will be helpful, informative, interesting, or entertaining to someone. So thank you for being my audience.

I suppose that the next goal is to reach 200!

Part of blogging is letting a large audience of strangers into your world -- your life, your mind, your thoughts. It is sharing a part of yourself with people you have never met or heard of, in the hope that your writing will put a smile on someone's face, teach someone an idea he/she had never heard of but finds interesting, inspire a person, or show them that they are not alone in feeling or thinking a certain way.

But opening yourself up to this vast, unidentified audience also has its drawbacks, such as a loss of privacy to a certain degree. In fact, one of the things people have said to me in trying to expose the 'evils' of blogging was, "Why would you want your life to be out there for everyone to see? Why do all these people and strangers have to know this about you?"

Well, first of all, this is not my whole life. I am quite selective about what I put up on my blog, and I have often started or planned blog posts that never materialized only because I decided that the subject was unnecessary for me to share.

Also, I choose to share some thoughts or happenings because I hope others might benefit from it. It might open new channels of thought, provide them with information or inspiration, or help them come to terms with things in their own lives because they see that they are not alone in some of their doubts, frustrations, thoughts, or emotions. And, of course, it might on occasion provide people with some much-needed entertainment after a long, hard, or boring day. I personally love reading blogs when I feel stressed because it helps take my mind off things and sometimes even makes me smile. And if one of my anecdotes about my life does that for someone else, then it's worth it.

One of the interesting things about blogging though is that you are tricked into feeling that you know the author of the blog when, in reality, you are only skimming the surface. When I blog, I am not putting my life out there. My life is not a book or a movie for others to jump into. I will not give you detailed stories about my day (unless there is something highly interesting I can relate or I am in a foreign country and feel as if I already am a character in a story). I will not tell you what I am thinking about now or what I have been struggling with the entire weekend. Unfortunately though, some people assume that because I have a blog I have no more privacy left; that my personal life is on display and I am making a story out of my feelings. I am a writer, and that is how I express myself, but that does not mean that everyone has to see it. Those who care to observe me (or simply cannot help noticing) will see that I am constantly writing in notebooks. I write pages and pages about my life and what I am experiencing, and not even a tenth of that ends up on my blog. I know quite well how to maintain my privacy.

Sometimes, when I read other blogs, I think, "This is getting kind of personal... How is he/she comfortable with sharing so much?" But obviously, for every one thing that a blogger shares, there is another one or two or even twenty that he/she does not allow you to see. It is all a matter of deciding what you want to make public and what needs to be kept to yourself.

Another thing that is important is not only knowing how to maintain your privacy but knowing how to respect that of others. There are many bloggers who are anonymous and can freely write about their families and friends because nobody knows who they are anyway. It seems as if they have a license to write whatever they want because of their anonymity. I, on the other hand, am somewhat limited in what I can write about. My family reads my blog, as do my friends, and I cannot write much about them because I never know what they might object to, and people will read it and know who I am talking about. So for the most part, I am limited to writing about myself and about unrecognizable acquaintances or strangers (and of course ideas).

But even when I write about myself, it is not quite enough to let other people know me as a person. It will give my readers little snippets here and there as well as some general ideas about who I am and what I care about, but that is about it. In order to get to know me, you would have to actually talk to me and develop a personal connection. You would have to get to know me not as inkstainedhands, but as Hannah.

Conversely, I feel that those of my friends who do not read my blog do not know a certain side of me. One of the reasons I keep a blog is that there are messages and thoughts that I would like to discuss and put out there that I would be unable to bring up in casual conversation. There are so many things I want to let other people know and I want to talk about, but it is impossible to do so face to face. What I write about is important to me and it is a part of who I am, but even my closest friends would be completely unaware of it if they do not see my blog or my writing. I feel more comfortable expressing myself through writing, so a lot of who I am is contained in it.

It is all summed up quite nicely by a remark one of my friends recently made: "There is a lot more to you than meets the eye." That applies to each and every one of us. We are complex and human, and it takes a lot of effort to get to know each person. It is not so easy as reading a blog, nor is it as simple as being my friend.

The bottom line is that in order to know me more closely you would have to both get to know me through my writing and as a friend, because each of those paths will lead you to a different side of me, which combined make Hannah Rozenblat.

I see that over a month has passed since I made my last blog post on September 18th, in honor of Rosh Hashana. So where have I been all this time? I could give all kinds of excuses.... My rats hijacked my keyboard, I was too busy to post, I was preoccupied by this thing called real life, etc. All of these excuses have some truth in them, but none of them are THE answer (although Mr. Knightley did just jump onto my computer desk and start trampling on the keyboard).

Speaking of my rats, I have introduced them to a few of my friends, all of whom were delighted to meet them. I got to say, "Told you they were cute," on a few different occasions, so that was nice. Some of my friends who declared that they would never come to my house again if I got rats actually fell in love with the creatures as soon as they met them.

So, what else have I been up to in the past few weeks? School has obviously been keeping me busy, but I also managed to keep myself well occupied during Sukkot. After weeks of doing what my sense of responsibility told me to do, it was nice to relax and do what I wanted to do. I took full advantage of my one and a half weeks of Sukkot vacation by visiting the Frick Collection, going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and seeing Hamlet on Broadway, among other things. I cannot help but smile every time I think of that week. And for now, I will have to rely on those memories to bring a smile to my face, because it does not look as if I will have any more time for that sort of thing until the end of November, after midterms.

People have been asking me about my writing and how that is going. Well, to tell the truth, it's not really going. I have been more involved in art and drawing the past couple of months. I did write a few quick dialogues in the form of poems, but that was simply for fun after an overdose of Shakespeare. I also finished a few books, some of which I considered blogging about. Perhaps once I have more time, I will do so. I also hope that my writing will pick up its pace in November with NaNoWriMo. I'm still working on one of my novels from 2007, but I would also like to start a new one on a completely different topic, with a Jewish theme for once.

I just wanted to update everyone, because otherwise it looks as if I disappeared for no reason. Hopefully there won't be such a large gap again between this post and the next.

I have been thinking of a few blog posts I wanted to make before Rosh Hashana, but it seems as if I will start off with something completely unplanned. I was tagged by BTS for the superpower meme, which I see almost everyone has already posted by now.

The rules are as follows:

Rule number 1: Read the rules.
Rule number 2: Write one superpower you would like to have and what you would do with it.
Rule number 3: Write why you chose that super power over everything else.
Rule number 4: Tag and link 7 people, and write why you think they will have an interesting meme.
Rule number 5: fix your broken links.

This is one of those memes that I just feel useless in attempting. I mean, I've gotten the hang of life. I know for the most part what my abilities are, and I try to use them to the best of my ability. I used to spend a lot of time dreaming about a more ideal me and a more ideal world, in which I would be capable of knowing and doing more. Daydreaming is a powerful thing -- it sometimes convinces you that impossible things are a reality, and although you consciously know that it is impossible, there is still this small subconscious part of you that says, "It's true, it's possible, this dream can be a reality." The descent to earth and to true reality then becomes even more difficult when it must be done.

So I try not to dwell on the abilities I only wish I had. I want to make the reality work. Perhaps that is why when BTS tagged me, my first reaction was, "Oh no, not this meme. I don't want superpowers. I just want to be the best that I can actually be."

If I had been asked this as a child, I would immediately list a dozen superpowers I would like to have. But now, it is not at all something I would want.

So while I am still doing this meme, it is going to be less about 'superpowers' and more about actual abilities.

Since Rosh Hashana is coming up, the correct thing to say would be to say something nice and fluffy about how I want to be a perfect Jew and be able to immediately know what is sinful and what is not and to refrain from sinning. But I'm not going to say that, because perfection does not appeal to me.

I suppose that the ability I would most like to have would be to understand people and their motives thoroughly.

BTS wrote that he would like to have organized information on every single person, and BoSD wrote that she wants to be able to "get a glimpse into the minds of other people" so she could understand them better, be more sensitive to them, and not hurt anyone unintentionally. Shlomo's post was along those lines as well, although he went off on a tangent about Jews and Nietzsche, and when he finally wrote what abilities he would like to have, it was to read minds and manipulate them. So we have the spy, the sweet blob, and the manipulative Israeli, all wishing for similar superpowers. And here enters the writer, with a similar wish, for completely different purposes.

I would like to see people's intentions -- why they do the things they do. I would like to understand their thought processes, whether they lead to good actions or to crimes, and I want to be able to see the world from their point of view, so that I could create realistic, human characters based on them. I want my characters to have depth and complexity, so my readers should connect to them whether the characters are generally perceived by society as 'good' or as 'bad'. I suppose I want to do away with those terms entirely; I want my characters to be not good or bad, but human -- to be real, since that is perhaps one of the greatest things a writer can achieve.

That sounds like it can be easily solved by majoring in psychology. The truth though is that although I can study psychology as much as I want, the ability to see every facet of a person's mind and heart is impossible for us mere mortals. So that is why I am writing this down as the 'superpower' I would most like to have.

And now, for the tagging. This is proving to be a bit tricky, especially since Google Reader greeted me this morning by informing me that there were nearly thirty new blog posts, a large amount of which were for this meme, so there are few people left to tag. So here are the people I am tagging:

Subwife, because she sounds pretty stressed in her posts about work, and I would like to see if she wishes she could make people just disappear.

Dina, because I would like to see what she would do to the world with her superpowers.

Oh, and BTS asked when he tagged me, "so what did you write in your private diary today, Hannah?"

All kinds of fascinating things. :]

A few months ago, I discovered a fascinating and well-written blog titled The Curious Jew, written by Chana. I started going through her old posts, some of which she wrote when she was still in high school, and was impressed by her maturity, depth of knowledge, and her way of expressing herself. The posts in which she compared literature to Torah and blended the two seamlessly changed the way I read books and her posts on ideas in the Torah made me want to learn more. Each post of hers was like a class all on its own and was well worth the time it took to read it.

So now that the time comes for me to nominate a blogger for the Nefesh B'Nefesh Second International Jewish Bloggers Convention, it is a rather easy choice to make. Or rather, it is an obvious choice.

The blogger will be teamed up with an oleh/olah/family of olim and will have to get to know them and blog about them. Who can be better for the job than Chana, who is known for starting conversations with strangers and writing interesting, humorous, insightful posts about the experiences? She talks to people most of us would never even notice; we would probably walk by them, while Chana takes those opportunities to exchange a few words and put a smile on their faces. Her colorful accounts of those experiences are a pleasure to read (which is obvious by the many comments she receives and the general popularity of her blog).

Let's not limit her to the New York crowd (as fascinating and diverse as it is). Let's send her to Israel! There, she will have the opportunity of getting to know those making aliyah, and judging by her previous posts over the past few years, she will be able to make an interesting story out of everything and everyone.

There is a reason she's called The Curious Jew. She is curious about the things and the people around her, which is what makes her blog so unique and enjoyable. Unlike most people I know, she can actually take a genuine interest in a total stranger and find something she can either relate to or learn from. Going to Israel would be perfect for her. (Imagine a kid in a candy store.)

So, those are my reasons for nominating Chana (Curious Jew) for this Nefesh B'Nefesh flight.

I have been waiting for this for so long -- for years -- and now there is not much time left to wait. The luggage is packed (for the most part), and I have plenty of things in my carry-on case to amuse me for the duration of the flight.

My turtles are at my friend's house, invading her living room, and my father and I just dropped Coco off where he will be staying these couple of weeks. For some reason, I keep thinking, "Hold on, where did the rest of my pets go?" And then I remember I don't yet have rats.

For some reason, I am anxious right now. I did not want to go to sleep yesterday, and was preparing things for the flight until around 4 AM. It's not that I think I won't be ready. I don't have much left to pack, and I still have the rest of today in which to do it. So I will be ready. But I still feel a bit like a shy person who's about to go onstage: nervous and sick.

I tried to relax myself yesterday by listening to music and watching a DVD. It did calm me down for a bit, and I was able to fall asleep after that, but now I am back to stressing. At the same time though, I am too excited for words. I feel as though I drank three cups of coffee and cannot settle down, except that I did not drink anything today besides for some green tea and Vitamin Water.

I was just looking through some lists of Hebrew words that I studied for Hebrew class in 10th grade. I think that most of the Hebrew I know is from that 10th grade class (for which I will have to thank my teacher when I see her in September). So I was reading these lists of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and phrases, brushing up on my Hebrew skills so I can put them to full use in Israel, when I came across this little gem:
ישר ישר ושם תשאלי
The definition? "Israeli directions."

I seriously can't wait to speak Hebrew to everyone there. Sure, I'll anyway sound like an American with my accent and my limited vocabulary, but it would still be fun to put ten years of my education to good use and see how it works.

My mother said to me on Shabbat, "Can you imagine, this time next week we will be in Jerusalem?"

Well, I am imagining...

In less than 24 hours, I will be at Newark with my parents and all our luggage.

In less than 30 hours, I will be on an airplane, flying across the ocean.

In less than 36 hours, I will be in Ben Gurion, probably tired, but very excited.

In less than 40 hours, I will be walking on Israeli ground, breathing in the air of Israel.

In less than 48 hours, I will be standing in front of the Kotel, and when I thought about it last night, I could hardly believe it.

This combination of anticipation and nerves is not doing me much good now though.

I will have internet access in our apartment, hopefully, so I will be blogging. There are a few ways it can go, though: either, I will be so excited to share what I've seen and experienced that I will post almost every single day (with photos), or I will be so busy actually living that I won't even bother blogging, or I will do something in between those two options. Let's see what happens.

I will also be writing a lot on the plane and working on some blog posts I've been wanting to make for quite a while, so once I get to our apartment, I might post that.

I might post again tomorrow, before we leave. I don't know. Maybe. (Another thought: do they have wireless internet in airports?)

But wish me a safe flight now anyways. :]

Since starting my blog in April, I have received quite a lot of enjoyment from posting, recording some of my thoughts and feelings where others could read them, and expressing myself. After spending a number of years writing regularly in a journal and keeping it all to myself, it was a pleasant contrast to be able to post something and get others' thoughts and opinions.

In fact, I liked it so much that I managed to make 50 posts in less than four months! :] (Let's see how quickly I can get to 100!)

Thank you to all my readers, my followers, and my lurkers. And an extra big thank you to those who commented on my blog!

But since I cannot allow myself to make a separate post just to announce my post count, I will write about my library trip today.

For those of you who live in Brooklyn, the Kings Highway branch of the Brooklyn Public Library has just been reopened this month after being closed for renovations for a few years.

When I was younger, I used to go there regularly with my mother. I remember wishing I could spend hours there and just get lost among all those bookshelves brimming with books. There was nothing I could have liked more at that point. When it closed down, I was obliged to find a different branch within reasonable proximity, but I did not feel as comfortable there, and my library visits became less frequent. And as a result of my yearning for good books to read, I took up the habit of going to actual bookstores or going online and buying what I wanted. (Needless to say, my own personal library has expanded quite considerably over the past few years. In fact, I have two full bookcases in the house, and I am still adding!)

Since today seemed like a nice day for a walk, the skies being gray and overcast, with a pleasant breeze blowing about, I decided to take the opportunity to walk to the library. (And I do not like walking when the alternative is to get a ride, but since that was not an option, walk I did.) I felt the occasional raindrop on my face, and although my mother made sure I took an umbrella with me, I did not bother to use it with so little provocation.

I walked into the library and wandered around for a few minutes, trying to figure out the new layout. The assignment shelves used to be along the wall all the way to the right, but they were no longer anywhere near there. I finally located them -- as you walk into the library, you walk to your left and forward.

There, I proceeded to stand and behold the books with an expression of pure glee, as I noticed that they had all of those books I could not find in the Homecrest branch. I was absolutely delighted by the selection, and kept taking one book after another. At that point, my best friend called me. I shifted my handbag, my umbrella, and about ten books to my left hand in order to hold my phone, which, as you can imagine, was extremely uncomfortable and even somewhat painful. If I had a bit more common sense, I would have sat on one of the cute little wave benches (imagine this, only red and soft) and put my books down on a table, as my best friend suggested, but I continued browsing the shelves, adding even more books to my arms.

At last, after we concluded our conversation and I finished choosing my books, I did take advantage of the benches and the table. At that point, I probably had almost fifteen books. I layed them out on the table and, realizing that it would be impossible to read all of them in the next few weeks, decided I would pick out the ones I could not wait to read and leave the rest for my next visit to the library. I was finally able to narrow it down to nine books. (I don't think my parents want to know how many books I am taking with me.... It might border on insanity -- I don't know. But when your flight to Israel and your flight back to New York add up to nearly twenty-four hours, it is good to be equipped, especially for someone who has no interest in sleeping on a plane.)

Probably the funniest thing that happened in the library was when I was standing by the philosophy shelves. The space between the shelves in front of me and the shelves behind me was pretty narrow. While two people can squeeze past each other, when one person is busy browsing, it's impossible to get through. So I was standing there, looking at titles, and the young girl standing next to me turned her back to me, bent her head to look at the lower shelves, and started backing up... into my space. I don't think she even noticed me, because she seemed pretty preoccupied. Deciding not to say anything to her, I simply moved a few inches away from her so my feet would not be stepped on (especially since she did not exactly have the body of a model, if you know what I mean). And she continued backing up. I moved, and she backed up more, and I got out of her way again, and she backed up, until I was finally pushed out of the aisle altogether. If she had turned around and seen my face at that point, she would probably apologize profusely. But she only noticed me when I tried walking past her to return to where I had been looking at books before she had forced me to back out of the aisle. (She did, indeed, apologize then.)

So that was my library adventure. I also got a new library card, since my old one was apparently outdated, and I discovered the convenience of checking out your books yourself.

There was an older woman standing in front of me, and she asked me if I know how to do it. "This is my first time actually, so I'm not really sure," I replied. The young Jewish man wearing a kippah who was standing near us volunteered to demonstrate, checking out her books for her. She thanked him and left, while I then had the benefit of knowing the basics. So whoever you are, thank you!

I can't wait to go through these books!

And if any of you have something to say in reply to my previous post (on my Israel plans), please do! It would be much appreciated.

There is something about writing that gives it the power to consume an individual and take over his or her life.

I have been writing compulsively the past few days. Each time a significant thought strikes me or I have an idea, I write it out thoroughly, which is something I have not done in a while. Thoughts that would usually go unnoticed by me and remain just that -- fleeting thoughts -- now become written words.

Sometimes, when writing seems to take precedence over everything else, it is difficult to actually live your life. When writing occupies all your thoughts and much of your time, there is little room left for living life as a normal human being.

But on the other hand, it is the most welcome thing after a period of writer's block, and if the urge to write comes, who am I to ignore it or regret it? I love writing; the fact that I have the ability to express what is in my head and heart is precious to me, even if most of that writing will never see the light of day.

Now all I need to do is write something that I will actually post on my blog or allow others to read. That should not take long.
Oh, and by the way, I added a second column in the sidebar on my blog and put up a number of quotes that I feel more than adequately express some of the things I believe.

Well, here is another quick post while I am working on the longer ones. I thought I should just update my readers on what is going on.

I was planning to write a very long post on childhood, and by 'very,' I mean longer than any of my previous posts. (Considering the length of some of those, this is saying much.) It was to include some references to both classic and modern literature and some prominent figures from the media, but I did not think my blog would be the best place for it. So while I am still working on the piece, I have yet to decide what I want to do with it. Yesterday, I thought of a new idea for a separate blog post, also revolving around the topic of childhood, but then I thought of finding a larger audience for it. I'll let you know how that goes.

Looking through some of my previous posts, I see I have mentioned some other posts I wanted to make, including one on Edgar Allan Poe and another one about the right to privacy for one who is in the public eye. So look out for those. (This is a reminder for me as well. I am looking forward to writing and posting those... I feel very much in the mood of writing.)

And another update... on my Israel plans!!

My father just paid today for the apartment we are renting there. I believe it is in Maalot Dafna. Is anyone here familiar with that neighborhood? The results of my Google searches have informed me that it is an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, which makes me a bit apprehensive. I have these visions of being glared at for being dressed like a Flatbush girl. Please dispel these images.

But anyway, there is something about every plan we make that makes me more and more excited, because it is becoming a reality. Hopefully I will start packing, or at least organizing the things I need to pack, later this week. Imagine how much that will excite me... :]

We will be spending the first couple of days in the Golan Heights, then about two weeks in Jerusalem, and the final two or three days in Ashdod. We will be passing through Tzfat and Teveriah, I believe, and I also hope to spend a few hours in Tel Aviv.

So, are there any places in Israel you would recommend I visit? I'd like to make a list of places to visit and things to see, and I would love to hear your suggestions!

As some of you might have already noticed, my blog has a new layout! I am still getting used to it and also trying to fix a few things up, but I am quite happy with it in general.

The archives are formatted a bit differently now. They used to be organized in a hierarchy format -- the year, the month, and the post titles of this month, but that did not seem to fit in with the layout so I had to change it to a list format.

Post times are gone as well, as far as I can see. There are only dates on posts now, as that is how the layout works.

The text size is a bit smaller as well, especially in the sidebars.

There is a new addition in the form of a search box, in the top right corner, to make it easier to find older posts.

Although I liked my previous banner, I am making a few changes to it now so it should blend in more with the background. Hopefully, I should have it back up before I leave for Israel.

But overall, what do you all think of this new layout?

We have this deep, innate curiosity about the people and things around us. We want to know more, to dig deeper, to see all that there is to see.

You see people probing into each other's lives, and then devouring what the tabloids feed them about celebrities' lives. Those two things come from the same root basically: the desire to know more about someone else's life, even though it is none of your business most of the time. Let us face it -- it's called 'personal' for a reason.

It is not our business to pry into the lives of the people we know or to ask for personal details, unless we are quite sure that it is not a breach of privacy.

Sometimes, when you know that the person wants you to inquire (about his/her day or something that just happened because he/she wants to tell you about it), it is perfectly fine. You sometimes get the impression that a person is bursting to tell you something but refrains from doing so until you broach the subject or ask them directly, which then gives that person the opportunity to share whatever it is he/she wanted so badly to tell you.

In some situations, asking questions about an individual's personal life shows that you care and that it matters to you, which is a great thing because it makes them feel more comfortable around you, knowing that they can talk to you and you will listen and be interested in what they have to say.

On the other hand, though, many times your questioning is unwelcome and considered an intrusion into another person's life, especially if you are not close friends and you do not have the right to know everything about that person.

I would say that the rising popularity of blogging is contributing to the decline of that sensitivity of what is personal and what is not. Perfect strangers have the opportunity to read your thoughts, to know what is going on in your life (if you make it public on your blog), and to acquaint themselves with another person's drama. In my opinion, people often go too far in what they allow the public to know. But that, of course, is their choice, and if they have no problem with it, what can I say?

My issue is really with how far people can go in trying to find out more about somebody else's life, even when it is none of their business.

I hope to continue this topic in one of my future posts as it relates to people in the public eye and literature.

Some other future posts:
* Childhood
* Edgar Allan Poe

I just changed the header of my blog from plain text to something I like a good deal more. Tell me what you think!

I think this might have been the shortest post I ever made. But that might be because I have another one on the way.

I used to only allow comments from registered users on my blog, but since I realized that some of my friends were reading and might not have accounts, I have decided to change the settings so anyone can comment.

I really do not want anonymous comments though, so if you are not a registered user, please have the decency to at least write your name or something by which I can identify you. Alternatively, you can email me at myinkstainedhands (AT) gmail.com.

Thanks!

(And with all that said, I enjoy receiving and reading comments.) :]

I was not sure whether I should start a blog again, but since I am sitting here typing this post, it's pretty obvious that I decided to start the blog.

I started my first blog back in 2005 and posted in it faithfully for a few years, until I grew bored of it and decided that I would prefer keeping my thoughts to myself. Although, either way, I don't think many people read that blog, so it didn't really matter.

So after a year of silence, here I am, back in the world of blogging. For now, I don't want to identify myself here. Those who know me, please keep the information to yourself.

Here is a short introduction for those who don't know me:

I'm a 17-year-old girl from New York who mostly identifies herself as a Jew and a writer. I like to think a lot about the world around me and the people in it, which ends up having an influence on my writing. I use my writing both as a means of expression and as an escape. My goal in starting this blog is to write about my observations, some feelings, and the more interesting parts of daily life.

And in case anyone was wondering about the title of my blog -- Ink Stained Hands -- it is just something that fascinates me. Although pens are very convenient, I like using quills and bottled ink, which tends to find its way onto my hands and has even inspired a short story. When I think of writing, I imagine sitting under a shady tree during the day, holding a notebook and a quill, my hands covered in ink. So that explains the title.

Pesach vacation has already started for me, so I hope to have more time to write now.

At the moment, though, I have to run.